1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battle target which is in the form of an aerial towed (sleeve) target, has a mechanism for radar contact, and comprises a hollow body which is reinforced in front in a ring-shaped manner and is composed of sewn together woven lengths of fabric in which are integrated elongated metal elements; the hollow body has a base, and has towing gear associated with the front end thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A towed target of this general is known from German Offenlegungsschrift No. 26 02 432. The elongated metal elements thereof are disposed on the hollow body at intervals of less than or up to one-fourth of the wave length of the radar frequency which is utilized. Elongated metal elements which are typically used are metal threads, with individual woven threads of the fabric being twisted or wrapped around by a metal thread and extending either in the warp or weft direction, or even in both directions. The reflection, and hence the discovery and pick-up of the target, are improved with these heretofore known measures.
Also known (German Gebrauchsmuster No. 17 91 564) is a radarsensitive target fabric, the warp and/or weft of which contains metallic wires or yarns. In particular, the base fabric of the target comprises monofilament polyethylene wires, with three bronze wires which comprise a plurality of individual wires being alternately picked or shot-in with three polyethylene wires. Similar subject matter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,731,046 Bachner dated Jan. 17, 1956, according to which individual polyethylene filaments have wound therearound or are coated with metal, such as aluminum. In all of the aforementioned situations, at least individual fabric threads can be provided with contrasting colors in order to highlight them optically.
Although the heretofore known towed targets may allow for sufficient detectability due to well-focused short wavelength radio beams (radar beams) as the target flies by, nonetheless more or less great difficulties occur if the target is already to be located and its bearing taken during approach or while it is still in take-off, i.e. in directions of flight which increasingly approach the direction of the radio waves until they coincide therewith. The radio waves then no longer strike a surface which is disposed transverse thereto, but rather in the extreme case only strike the thin end edge of the woven lengths of fabric of the associated target, so that with these heretofore known means no utilizable reflection can be achieved. Although this is of no great significance for slow-moving targets, since there is sufficient time to discover and pick-up the target as it flies by, rapidly flying targets must be located and picked-up already at a great distance or range during approach as well as during take-off since the time available as the target flies by is much too short for launching defense devices. Furthermore, a target seldom actually flies past; mainly, a direct approach and take-off occur, so that only the end faces of the flying object, or projections thereof, are available for location and taking of a bearing. In such cases, even aircraft-like shaped targets, as described in the periodical "Flugkorper", issue 2-1961, pages 58 and 59, offer only reduced reflection conditions.
It is an object of the present invention to improve the detectability, by radio beams, of an aerial towed battle target of the aforementioned general type during approach and take-off, and in so doing to still make it a usable object at the least possible expense.